FCC to Treehouse

3 min read

Free Code Camp to Treehouse

Treehouse is a Godsend

Let me say first: I love Free Code Camp; I love what Quincy Larson is doing for busy people to learn how to code at their pace, on their time without needing to go to college to get a job. I love the premise and I still want to use it.

My problem is I don\’t learn well in their model. I have been doing Free Code Camp for about two or three months now (I think). I didn\’t do it everyday but I would go on streaks of doing the Waypoints and then stop. When it was time for me to return I was completely lost. I was learning but what I found is that whenever I had to complete a challenge on Codecademy or write my own program, I\’d continually need to look at the hints or Q&A forums. There were only a few times I didn\’t need to do that and it was frustrating me. I know that I am far from stupid but this type of constantly second-guessing myself was making me feel incredibly inadequate. I thought, a lot, that I wasn\’t cut out for this at all.

Then comes me visiting Nick Queen\’sblog and seeing his Treehouse badges. My buddy Mark had started Treehouse as well and I had checked it out, signed up for a free trial but never used it. I let my free trial dwindle because I didn\’t have a school ID to get the school discount and I honestly didn\’t see the point. I was already doing just fine with Free Code Camp and Learn Python the Hard Way. But stopping by Nick\’s site and talking to him and seeing his progress on Twitter, as well as how improved Mark was in his knowledge of JavaScript I thought I\’d sign up for a new account and trial and actually work through it.

So I started the HTML track and skipped it. I then started the CSS track and found just how much I was actually learning in such short amount of time. The key is: videos and explanations, plus following along with Workspaces. These three things help you get a grasp on the material. There are quizzes and challenges that make certain you have a grasp on the concepts.

I went ahead and skipped majority of the CSS beginners track as I have a JavaScript project looming and I know enough CSS to get by.

I am learning so much in such a short time that I have even more app ideas. The explanations behind the concepts is something I appreciate. I often had to reach out to other people to find out the why of something. For instance:

$(this)

I am certain Treehouse has answers for me about this and I kinda grok it. But I am looking to Treehouse to make it even more clearer.

I have gotten 5 badges in three days and I am excited to get more. The gamification of all these sites really keeps you in them. And the fact I can display my badges is icing on the cake.

What About Free Code Camp?

Oh they\’re still on my radar. I will come back to them once I know more about what I am doing in JavaScript. The chatroom is so great that I don\’t think I\’ll ever give it up. I am hoping Treehouse gets a Slack or Gitter because that is the next step to make it great. I\’ll have to pay for Treehouse, unlike Free Code Camp, but that\’s okay. It\’s $9/mo for students so not too much of a burden. And you can pause your enrollment at any time. Like I said, I love Free Code Camp. The style is just not right for me right now.